2: Mindgrinder

3: Bloob

Semtek’s Don’t Be Afraid unearths a gem of a producer from the American mid-west in Tyler Dancer, a fresh new talent whose fun-loving, machine-laden tracks fall within a lineage of great producers like Anthony ‘Shake’ Shakir, DJ Bone and and Jay Denham.

The three tracks on display here are brimming with their own individual personality – they all bear an inimitably sin singular style but at the same time are able to branch in opposing directions that make for an all-round excellent package, both for DJs looking for a single disk to get a huge amount of mileage out of but also a wider audience who are curious to see just how exciting the techno blueprint can be in the hands of a talented individual.

Opener Hercobulos is the designated “tuff cut”, a stylistic mash-up of Drexciyan atmospherics and DJ-Rush style drum programming, straight on the nose but full of analogue sonic character and retro-bleeps in the final portions of the track. We reckon this’ll be a favourite for some real-time splicing on the decks, and makes for a perfect techno-electro bridge track in the mix.

Mindgrinder adds a huge dose of groove to the proceedings, the drum and synth-work coming together to make for a pumping, bouncing rhythm track that’ll eke out even the shyest dancers out there. Dancer doesn’t stop there, layering the groove with a vocoded voice that just adds that extra touch of flair. Finally we have Bloob, a tongue-in-cheek number that completes the EP with another dose of bounce and smile-inducing pleasure.